FY 2021-22 and FY 2022-23 were tough for most broadcasters in terms of ad revenues with industry experts pointing at “flattened” television consumption and inflationary pressures on FMCG – a sector that contributes to 50% of TV advertising spends.

However, industry veterans are hopeful that this festive season and the recently concluded ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup will have a positive impact on the advertising front in the next financial year.

The ad revenue fell to Rs 4,057.9 crore due to weak ad spending by brands in an inflationary environment caused by challenging macroeconomic factors like high input costs, geopolitical risk and disrupted global supply chain, ZEEL said.

It also noted that subscription revenues increased by 2.7% YoY to Rs 3,335.5 crore due to growth in ZEE5 and ZEE Music “partially offset by a decline in linear TV subscriptions”.

Sharing a similar view on the reduced ad revenues of these media giants, Elara Capital’s Senior VP Karan Taurani told exchange4media that TV itself as a medium has not seen growth in terms of consumption and it has remained flattish or seen a dip in most urban markets.

“TV is also coming down in terms of penetration and reach. If you look at Pay TV households, it is down by 3-5% on an average every year,” Taurani said.

Another industry expert, who did not wish to be named, said many of the larger e-commerce names and new-age companies moved away from the market in FY23 and after the Q1 of FY23, there was a lot of disruption which impacted the overall ad spends for TV.

“FMCG companies faced inflationary pressures in FY 23 as food prices and other raw material costs kept going up. FMCG companies, which contribute to 50% of TV ad spends, curtailed their ad expenses. That is also a reason for reduced ad revenues of broadcasters,” said the expert.

However, industry insiders expressed hope about FY24 turning out to be a better year for broadcasters in terms of ad spends.

“FY24 could be a better year for TV ad spends because FMCG companies are looking to spend more on advertising. We will see a positive impact of the festive season and the recently concluded cricket World Cup on overall TV ad spends,” Taurani said.

Another expert said that the issues around new-age companies curtailing ad spending and consumption of television will continue but because of FMCG companies coming back in a certain way on ad spending and the festive season, we might see some growth in TV ad spending.

Also, elections will help the news genre, sources said.